White House faces scrutiny over top Trump aide Natalie Harp – live

Key events

James Braid, the longest-serving legislative affairs director of Trump’s presidency, is leaving the White House ahead of the midterms. Braid navigated the cabinet confirmations of controversial appointees like that of Pete Hegseth at defense and Robert Kennedy Jr. at health and human services. He also shepherded the One Big Beautiful Bill Act through a congress with historically-tight margins for Republicans, while beating back war powers resolutions.

Republican lawmakers are acknowledging his service as he exits.

“James Braid has served his country with distinction and led the White House’s Office of Legislative Affairs with extraordinary skill,” wrote Speaker Mike Johnson on X. “His great friendship, unwavering commitment, and tireless work ethic have helped House and Senate Republicans advance President Trump’s America First agenda in spite of our razor-thin majorities, and he has played an essential role in delivering historic results for the American people. We wish James, his wife Melissa, and their family all the best in their next chapter.”

Vice President JD Vance, for whom Braid worked as legislative director before joining the White house, described him in a post on X as “brilliant.”

“James Braid had one of the toughest jobs in the entire Administration as White House Legislative Director and delivered for President Trump at every turn,” Vance wrote. “He played a critical role in all of the administration’s achievements in Congress: largest tax cut ever, resources to carry out President Trump’s historic immigration agenda and finish the border wall, defeating two Democratic shutdowns, a landmark first crypto bill, the fastest confirmation of the cabinet in decades and much more.”

Trump cycled through four legislative directors in his first term. The role will shift sharply if Republicans lose control of either chamber in the midterm elections, with the White House having to work to avert government shutdowns over budget battles and congressional investigations into Trump’s operations.

His exit follows that of Pace McMullan, who worked under Braid in Senate outreach.

US unemployment claims dropped to 206,000 last week, with layoffs still sparse

The weekly Labor Department report for jobless claims dropped to 206,000 last week from a revised 212,000 the week before, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Claims typically hover between 200,000 and 230,000. The weekly jobs report is viewed as a proxy for layoff notices.

The U.S. unemployment rate of 4.1% remains near historical lows, showing resilience despite higher energy prices caused by the war with Iran. It also reflects a shrinking labor market as immigration enforcement and Baby Boomer retirement reduce the number of available workers, AP reported.

Nonetheless, about 1.3 million people have dropped out of the labor market over the past year. Hiring in 2026 remains well below the 166,000 monthly jobs created, on average, in 2023 and 2024, and the 491,000 a month recorded during the 2021-2022 hiring boom that followed pandemic lockdowns.

Natalie Harp worked at White House without security clearance for nearly a year – report

Natalie Harp, special assistant to Donald Trump, continues to be the focus of media attention Thursday after an MS Now report revealed that she had worked at the White House for nearly a year without obtaining a security clearance.

Harp, a former One America News Network show host, has emerged as a key gatekeeper to the president. Her presence with Trump when the president left Air Force One as a decoy while sneaking on to another plane in a service cart – even as senior officials remained behind – drew attention.

Jon Ossoff, a Democratic senator from Georgia, amplified that attention with comments at a rally Sunday in Atlanta. Speaking of Trump, Ossoff said: “He golfs and trades stocks. See, he doesn’t want to do the job; he wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie to their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.”

A clip of his commentary went viral on social media, drawing attacks from the president’s defenders.

White House communications director Steven Cheung posted in reply on X: “Jon Jackoff has to be the biggest cuck loser in politics,” while White House spokesman Davis Ingle posted, “Jon Ossoff is a cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama. Nobody gives a shit what this lightweight loser says.”

Ossoff marveled at the reaction to his observations in an interview Wednesday with Laurence O’Donnell on MS Now. “It’s been amazing to watch this White House melt down over this all week,” Ossoff said. “These White House staffers are adults, public officials paid by the taxpayer with immense power in positions of public trust. And whether it’s Natalie Harp printing out Donald Trump’s daily dose of delusion and flattery, or Peter Navarro steering taxpayer-funded loans to Trump family investments, or Pete Hegseth deluding the president daily into deepening this quagmire in the Middle East, no one cares about their feelings.”

The pile on continues: Rosie O’Donnell, a longstanding Trump antagonist filling in Wednesday night for Jimmy Kimmel, picked at the topic.

“That’s all I’m going to say about you tonight, sweetheart,” O’Donnell said of Trump. ”You got to realize it’s time to hang up your wig and let Natalie tuck you in. Time to go nighty-night!”

Michele Tafoya: from unassuming NFL sideline reporter to rightwing firebrand

As the third leg of NBC’s Sunday Night Football crew alongside play-by-play man Al Michaels and the tart-tongued analyst Cris Collinsworth, Michele Tafoya was a paragon of deference and neutrality for 11 years as an NFL sideline reporter, dutifully relating boilerplate tactics, talking points and injury updates when she wasn’t nodding along to softball interviews or fumbling through hammy production gimmicks for viewers who might have been too offline to get the bit.

She was almost pathologically committed to not doing anything to draw attention to herself or her gender in an era when sideline reporting was a fast track to national celebrity. Even her football takes hewed to the middle. (“New Orleans doesn’t want to lose to Atlanta twice in a season …”) Anyone who says they saw the 61-year-old emerging as a rightwing firebrand was watching a different game.

And yet here we are. Last week, Tafoya was the decisive winner of Minnesota’s US Senate Republican primary, earning the party’s nomination for November’s general election. Even more striking: she beat back eight challengers, not least Adam Schwarze, the party-endorsed pro-gun, pro-military ex-Navy SEAL, and Royce White, the anti-leftist, anti-trans NBA flameout currently testing WNBA gender norms.

From McDonald’s to Congress: can a former fry cook flip a key district for Democrats?

Michael Sainato

During his presidential campaign in October 2024, Donald Trump staged a photo op at a McDonald’s franchise in Pennsylvania, where he was briefly taught how to work the fryer and drive-thru window at the closed restaurant, while making several unsubstantiated claims about Kamala Harris’s past summer job at McDonald’s.

The posturing around McDonald’s garnered significant publicity, as Trump and Republicans capitalized on an affordability crisis triggered by high inflation that occurred globally due to the Covid pandemic.

Now, as Trump’s promises to “end inflation” and bring down prices have fallen flat, a real former fry cook is hoping affordability will help him flip Colorado’s eighth congressional district, a swing district narrowly won by the Republican Gabe Evans in 2024. The district is rated a toss-up by the Cook Partisan Index, and affordability is front and center in Democratic nominee Manny Rutinel’s congressional campaign.

Iran foreign minister points to US national debt as Trump threatens 'economic warfare'

Donald Trump on Wednesday posted that he intends to inflict on Iran “the MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN AGAINST ANY COUNTRY!”

“This will be Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale,” the president said.

On Thursday, Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s minister of foreign affairs posted on X screenshots from various news outlets reporting that the US national debt had reached $40tn for the first time in history.

“The so-called ‘Economic D-Day’ is a diversion from America’s own crisis: unprecedented debt and surging interest costs,” Araghchi said. “Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat — and enmity of Iranians. US economic terrorism threatens global economy and sovereignty worldwide.”

Democrats and Republicans outraged over $40tn national debt

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of US politics.

The US gross national debt reached $40tn for the first time on Wednesday, the highest in US history.

The government deficit doubled over the past decade, with government spending growing under both Donald Trump and Joe Biden – Trump approved $8.4tn worth of debt during his first term, with a large chunk going to Covid-19 relief spending, while Biden approved $4.3tn worth of debt.

In fiscal year 2026, which began in October 2025, $1.8tn has been added to the debt so far.

Both Democrats and Republicans responded to the milestone with outrage, with Democrats placing the blame on Trump and a Republican-controlled Congress for the uptick in spending.

“The President said he’d pay off the debt in his first term. Well we all knew that was a lie. Instead he ran it up to $40 trillion while he and his family made billions,” Mark Kelly, a Democratic senator from Arizona, posted on X.

“Republicans ran up the tab, handed billionaires another tax break, and now wanna lecture working families about ‘fiscal responsibility’. You can’t max out the card AND pretend you’re the accountant. Pick a struggle,” Jasmine Crockett, a Democratic congresswoman from Texas, said.

“The Republican One Big Ugly Bill adds over $4 trillion alone—all to shamefully give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations,” Jason Crow, a Democratic congressman from Colorado, posted on X.

Crow is referring to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will increase the deficit by $3.3tn. After Republican senator Rick Scott posted on X that “Congress needs to get spending under control”, netizens were quick to add that he had voted to pass this bill.

Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who regularly clashed with Trump and his own party as well as with his colleagues across the aisle, has long worn on his suit jacket a debt badge, a three-inch-long pin he created that updates the national debt in real time. “When I invented the debt badge, the national debt was just over $31 trillion,” he posted on X.

“$4,000 per year per American. That’s how much interest we are paying on the debt to banks & foreign countries every year. A family of four owes $16,000 per year for nothing but interest on the debt!” Massie said. “I lost my re-election because I voted against the policies that caused this.” In May, the seven-term incumbent lost the House primary to keep his seat to Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy Seal and farmer who was recruited into the race by Trump.

Stay with us for more reaction.